No description available.

Drawing on a variety of primary and archaeological sources, this study attempts to recreate the political history and the social and economic character of the Balqa' region during the Umayyad period. The Balqa' was a provincial area of Transjordan, which had long been part of the classical world heavily influenced by the Arab tribes of the Syrian desert. After the Arab conquest the Balqa' took on a new role as the home or some of the ruling Umayyad elite. But a process of economic, demographic and urban decline had already begun in the middle of sixth century. Even the ethnic and religious composition of the Balqa's population remained stable; the region was primarily inhabited by Christian Arabs during both the late Byzantine and the Umayyad periods. In passing from Byzantine to Umayyad control the Balqa' underwent a process of transformation, especially in regards to political matters. But the more important trend was one of continuity, even the transfer of political power from the Byzantine bureaucracy to Arab notables was but the culmination of a trend which had begun with the rise of the Ghassanids in the previous century.

No description available.

This thesis answers the question: ‘what explains Jordan’s international alignments between 1955 and 1957?’ In so doing, the thesis addresses the broader question of why states in the Global South make alignments and explores the conditions under which these alignments are generated. The thesis advances beyond existing accounts in the historical and International Relations (IR) literature: especially the ‘omni-balancing school who argue that in Southern States, ruling regimes balance or bandwagon (like state actors in neo-realist theory) but directed against both internal and external threats. This thesis argues that such explanations explain Southern state behaviour by some lack or failure in comparison to the states of the global North. The thesis argues that omnibalancing imports neo-realist assumptions inside the state, endowing regimes with an autonomy they do not necessarily hold. The thesis adopts the theoretical framework of uneven and combined development to overcome these challenges in explaining Jordan’s alignments between 1955 and 1957. Using this case study, at a turning point in the international relations of the Middle East where Jordan could have taken either path, the thesis illuminates the potential utility of this theoretical framework for the region as a whole. The thesis argues that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries a ‘combined social formation’ emerged east of the Jordan river through the processes of Ottoman mimetic reform, land reform and state formation under the British mandate. The main characteristics of this social formation were a relatively egalitarian rural land-holding structure and a mechanism of combination with the global capitalist system through British subsidy to the former nomadic pastoralists in the armed forces, replacing formerly tributary relations. The thesis traces the social bases of the struggles that produced Jordan’s alignments between 1955 and 1957 to the emergence of this combined social formation and presents case studies of: the Jordanian responses to the Baghdad Pact, expulsion of British officers in the Jordanian armed forces, the Suez Crisis, abrogation of the Anglo- Jordanian treaty and acceptance of US aid at the time of the Eisenhower Doctrine. The thesis will be of interest in the fields of IR and Middle East studies: contributing to IR by critiquing existing approaches and demonstrating the utility of a new theoretical framework that can overcome the dichotomy of universality/specificity in the region.

This mixed-method study is focused on the values, beliefs, and attitudes of Jordanian elites towards liberalization, democratization and development. The study aims to describe elites' political culture and centers of influence, as well as Jordan's viability of achieving higher developmental levels. Survey results are presented. The study argues that the Jordanian regime remains congruent with elites' political culture and other patterns of authority within the elite strata. However, until this "cautious liberal" political culture of Jordanian elites changes, a transitional movement cannot arise that would lead Jordan towards greater liberalism, constitutionalism and development. The study concludes with implications for transitional movements in other developing countries, particularly in the Arab region.

This work explores the role of the watermill in the history and society of Jordan, Syria and Cyprus from the 12th to the 19th century. Previous studies in this area have been limited, and have usually assumed the watermills in the Levant to date from the Ottoman period. This work aims to suggest that many of the mills still extant today in fact date from an earlier period. A review of the historical documentation and archaeological material is the main background of this study, while an examination of the watermills themselves aims to provide a permanent record of these before they disappear due to rural and urban development. A review of available reference material regarding the role of the mill in Levantine economy and society from the medieval to late Ottoman periods emphasises the importance of the watermill in rural and urban areas of the Levant in a historical period of fluctuating economic stability. The reference material consists mainly of historical accounts by travellers and chroniclers, legal documents such as treaties, charters and waqf documents, as well as archaeological, environmental and socioeconomic studies of the Levant from the medieval to the early modem period. The broad nature of this study aims to form a basis for future research with a more detailed focus in these disciplines.